Donโt let its size fool you, Taiwan is home to a 23-million strong population that keep its spirited traditions and luxurious culture alive
Taipei
Taipei is a foodie haven, and great eats come in all forms, from unassuming street vendors to Michelin starred fine-dining restarurants. With so many options, it's hard to know where to start! Lemi share with you all my favourites! Legend: ๐ฌ menu/spoken languages ๐ฟ availability of vegetarian options ๐ธ price range in ๅ (take this as average and indicative only) All information is given to the best of my knowledge at the time of posting. Please always check with the location prior to visiting.
If you have some cash to spare and you want to impress your guests, Haidilao is the place to go. We used to always entertain our friends from abroad at Michelin starred Din Tai Fung, but ever since @aaaa1982000 recommended this place, I've had an instant change of heart. Their hot-pot might not be the best in town (it's still delicious though, don't get me wrong!), but a dinner here is an experience you will not forget. I knew I had fallen in love when queue-hating me promptly agreed to head there 1.5h before dinner time just to get our queue number. You can only make reservations on the 1st of the month for the following month (that's how popular it is), but as a walk-in you get a QR code and are free to wander off into the shopping district. But then, would you? Haidilao is notoriously generous with its endless freebies (I seem to discover a new one everytime I visit), and the list starts before you even cross the restaurant's threshold. Of course there is free tea served around the waiting area, but how about curbing those hunger pangs with some free Hรคagen-Dazs ice-cream (and every new barrel is a new flavour)? If you get bored of waiting, you can always take a spin on their massage chair or get your nails done. Yup, all for free. Once an hour during evening service, the mysterious face-changing dancer will make his appearance (if you're still waiting outside, no worries, you'll get to snap some pictures with him and then be ushered into the restaurant to watch the show anyway). The jealously kept secret of this Sichuan art will leave you mind-baffled, as the performer switches between masks in the blink of an eye while dancing to a Chinese-inspired soundtrack. Once you get seated, the impeccable service will start to unfold, with covers arranged over your jackets to protect them from smells, aprons to save your clothes from accidental splashes, ties for long-haired guests and wet wipes for your glasses in case they get too oily during the meal. If your phone is out, a little ziplock bag for it will appear on your table, lest you accidentally drop it into the boiling soup while trying to get that perfect flatlay shot for the gram. Your glass will never be empty, plates will never pile up, your soup will never get cloudy, and a mere glance around the restaurant will attract a server to your table to attend to your every request. Unsure how to concoct the perfect hot-pot sauce? They got you covered. Ordered prawns but now don't want to get your new nails dirty? They'll do it for you. The spicy soup is too spicy? They will fix it (or try to, it's called "Numbing Spicy" for a reason and I recommend avoiding it if you can't handle your chili). Got children? They'll get toys and a special area is set up for them to play freely, while you keep an eye on them at all times through your table's iPad. Want more? Order the noodles, and they will be hand-pulled on the spot in a gravity-defying ribbon dance by a performer equipped with a portable radio. Order 2 servings of noodles to get to see the performance twice in a row ๐. Still not enough? You can sign up for their loyalty programme and rack up points to exchange for attractive branded goods. And while you're ending your meal with more of that Hรคagen-Dazs, don't forget to get your leather shoes shined ๐. ๐๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ข: ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ; ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ-๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ด. ๐ฌ Chinese, English, Japanese & Korean menu. Most of the staff speak English. ๐ธ 700 ~ 900ๅ
110, Taiwan, Taipei City, Xinyi District, Songshou Road, 12่6ๆจ
If you're walking down Yongkang Street (which I definitely recommend for delicious food and cute souvenirs), this corner stall is hard to miss, as crowds gather around at almost every hour of the day. While Yilan is notoriously king of the Taiwanese pancake, Tian Jin makes some of the best ่ฅๆ้ค (๐ล๐ฏ๐จ ๐ป๐ฉ๐ถฤ ๐ฃว๐ฏ๐จ) in Taipei. Now, while this snack is commonly known as "pancake", don't let the name deceive you. We're actually talking about a flaky, savoury flatbread (much similar to Singaporean ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ช ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ข) with chopped scallions dotting the dough. In Yilan it is deep-fried, while at Tian Jin it is cooked over a hot griddle. I tried both, and while Yilan's scallions are hard to beat, I honestly prefer Tian Jin Onion Pancake, which is flakier and less oily. Go for the original for a filling snack, or add everything and turn it into a delicious meal. ๐๐๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐. Chinese legend has it that pizza is none other than a variant of this dish. Supposedly, Marco Polo invented pizza after he returned to Italy, in an attempt to recreate these very scallion pancakes (disclaimer: for your own safety, do not try suggesting this theory to Italian people!). ๐ฌ Chinese, English, Japanese & Korean menu (look for the small menu near the griddles) ๐ธ 25 ~ 55ๅ
No. 1่, Lane 6, Yongkang Street, Daโan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
106ๅฐๅๅธๅคงๅฎๅๆฐธๅบท่ก6ๅทท1่
A must-eat dish while visiting Taiwan, ็ด ็็่้บต (๐รณ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด๐ฉฤ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ชรบ๐ณรฒ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ชร ๐ฏ, more often referred to as just ๐ฏ๐ชรบ๐ณรฒ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ชร ๐ฏ) a.k.a. ๐ง๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ณ ๐ป๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฝ, is a variation of Chinese stewed beef soup with the addition of soy sauce. Just to give you a scale of its popularity, annual competitions see chefs from all over the country fight for the title of "best beef noodle". Though not as famous as other shops over at Yongkang, Beef Boss churns out some very delicious beef noodle soups at half the price. Their beef roll pancake is so good, I sometimes go there just to order that (I'm not a big eater, so finishing both is impossible for me). Drinks and side dishes are self-service. Free water and tea. ๐๐๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐. Though sometimes incorrectly referred to as Sichuan Beef Noodle Soup, this is a Taiwanese invention. ๐๐๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฎ. In the past, this dish was also known as "The Sad Noodles". Taiwanese marines on a voyage only had noodles and canned meat to eat, and adding heaps of spices to make them more palatable was a common practice. Drowning their homesickness in the spicy noodles, the old marines started referring to them as "the sad noodles". ๐ฌ Chinese menu. English, Japanese & Korean menu with photos available upon request. ๐ฟ very limited vegetarian options ๐ธ 160 ~ 260ๅ
No. 19-2, Longquan Street, Daโan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
On the higher end of the hot-pot scale, ๐ข๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ offers a mixture of elegant design, attentive service, and delicious food. The menu hasn't changed much in years, which in my view is usually a sign of great success (why change what is not broken, right?). The food was exquisite and high quality, going up the spectrum all the way to lobster and A5 wagyu. My choice of ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ณ ๐ง๐ผ๐ป๐ด๐๐ฒ might sound kind of low-key, but itโs not quite as common in Taiwanese establishments as the other options. I regret nothing. Everything else we tried was also pretty amazing: ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ด๐๐ ๐ง๐ผ๐ณ๐ โ a tantalizing cold appetizer of egg-tofu served with asparagus and a topping of (real) crab meat. ๐ธ ๐ข๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ป๐ด ๐ก๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ๐ โ thick and chewy udon, infused with a tea scent. While these handmade noodles are unique to the store, once you finish your main dish, the staff will ask if you want to turn your leftover soup into a delicious congee, so choose your other carbs wisely. ๐ธ ๐๐น๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ง๐ผ๐ณ๐ โ almond flavoured tofu, served with ice and canned peach, is a staple in chinese restaurants, but I was pleasantly surprised by the unique mochi-like chewiness of the texture. ๐ธ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ๐น ๐ฃ๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด โ we received this as a complimentary dessert, probably after the staff overheard me lamenting the difficulties of finding genuine egg custard pudding across Asia. And prove me wrong did they. ๐ฌ Chinese/English/Japanese ๐ฟ Vegetarian options available ๐ธ 800 ~ 1600 ๅ (not including items like lobster, crab or wagyu which are in an entirely different price range)
b1, No. 135่, Section 1, Da'an Road, Daโan District, Taipei City, Taiwan 106
When it comes to world-known Taiwanese cuisine, ๐๐ถ๐ป ๐ง๐ฎ๐ถ ๐๐๐ป๐ด is often the first name that comes to mind. Founded in 1958 as a humble mom-ad-pop store, you can still visit the original location in Xinyi Road, located at the corner of Yongkang foodie's heaven. It goes without saying, sampling the national dish that made them famous is a must. ๅฐ็ฑ ๅ (๐น๐ชว๐ฐ ๐ญรณ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃฤ๐ฐ) are steamed ๐ฑ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ stuffed with a meat and soup filling (that will burst to release scalding juices on the unwary taster). Din Tai Fung pride themselves in still making everything by hand, including the dough, and every dumpling will be sealed with exactly 18 folds. You can taste a variety of traditional Taiwanese dishes too, and new items are regularly added to the menu. To be honest, I wasn't impressed with their ๐ฏ๐ชรบ๐ณรฒ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ชร ๐ฏ, so I would recommend eating your full on dumplings. Their pickled entrees are all quite delicious. The ๐ด๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐๐ป๐ are a fantastic way to end the meal.
Number 194, Section 2, Xinyi Road, Daโan District, Taipei, Taiwan
106ๅฐๅๅธๅคงๅฎๅไฟก็พฉ่ทฏไบๆฎต194่